I'm after surgery. I can't say it was pleasant as they were burning me alive. Doctor said that surgery went well, but it will have to be repeated because there's still problem with my right side and it's impossible to do everything at once due to loss of blood. It was very painful, but doctor said after surgery that he was impressed by my behavior, because he expected that I'll be screaming and jumping in chair. Therefore I thank all those who were crossing their fingers strongly for me, you gave me strengh to go through it.

I really miss writing.

_________________I'm a bookworm!

Tue Apr 16, 2013 5:05 pm

_Stu_

Banner Artist

Joined: Thu Nov 18, 2010 4:44 amPosts: 1572Images: 3

Re: Housepets: Matt (suspended)

Then i'll cross my fingers again, till it'll be over! After all this pain i'm sure you'll be highly better!

We're all with ya!

_________________My webcomics! Read and subscribe if you like them (or one of them), and don't forget to vote on TopWebComics!

Tue Apr 16, 2013 5:30 pm

kavviyenta

Joined: Fri Sep 23, 2011 3:01 pmPosts: 269Location: close to DC

Re: Housepets: Matt (suspended)

Keep it up. Don't let the suffering get to you because once it's over, you'll never have to experience that again.

It's his explanation about his reasons for suspending the story. He's been battling with sinus issues for some time, and recently they had gotten very serious. He had to wait several months for surgery while they kept pushing back the date. As can be seen above he's going in for the surgery today (or by now it may be finished), so we're hoping it all goes well.

My prayers to you as well, Karlos. Get well soon!

_________________

Tue Apr 16, 2013 7:02 pm

copper

Puppy Wrangler

Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:18 pmPosts: 6362Location: Florida

Re: Housepets: Matt (suspended)

Please get well soon Karlos! We miss you over here.

Well, a second time in and all should be well, right? Let us hope at least....

_________________My charactersEverybody has a story to tell. What's yours?

It's his explanation about his reasons for suspending the story. He's been battling with sinus issues for some time, and recently they had gotten very serious. He had to wait several months for surgery while they kept pushing back the date. As can be seen above he's going in for the surgery today (or by now it may be finished), so we're hoping it all goes well.

My prayers to you as well, Karlos. Get well soon!

yes i was talking about the letter. im upset at them for constantly pushing back the date. i mean, what if the condition was fatal!?!?! WHAT IF HE DIED BECAUSE THEY KEEP PUSHING BACK THE DATE!?!?!!?!? WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE MORONS WHO GOT HIM KILLED BECAUSE THEY THOUGH HIS SURGERY WAS "UNIMPORTANT?!?!!?!?!!?!?!!?!?!?!!?" WHAT WOULD HAPPEN THEN!!?!?!?!?! what would happen then?

It's his explanation about his reasons for suspending the story. He's been battling with sinus issues for some time, and recently they had gotten very serious. He had to wait several months for surgery while they kept pushing back the date. As can be seen above he's going in for the surgery today (or by now it may be finished), so we're hoping it all goes well.

My prayers to you as well, Karlos. Get well soon!

yes i was talking about the letter. im upset at them for constantly pushing back the date. i mean, what if the condition was fatal!?!?! WHAT IF HE DIED BECAUSE THEY KEEP PUSHING BACK THE DATE!?!?!!?!? WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE MORONS WHO GOT HIM KILLED BECAUSE THEY THOUGH HIS SURGERY WAS "UNIMPORTANT?!?!!?!?!!?!?!!?!?!?!!?" WHAT WOULD HAPPEN THEN!!?!?!?!?! what would happen then?

sorry. i didnt want a fanficer to die

Okay, calm down legrontron, I know you're worried too, but please don't get negative. Be positive and you'll see everything is gonna be fine. And the fanfiction is the least important. What care the most is to have a great comrade like Karlos still with us.

Hope you get better soon Karlos, I wish you the best of lucks. I trust that everything will turn out well. Hugs for you, man!

It's his explanation about his reasons for suspending the story. He's been battling with sinus issues for some time, and recently they had gotten very serious. He had to wait several months for surgery while they kept pushing back the date. As can be seen above he's going in for the surgery today (or by now it may be finished), so we're hoping it all goes well.

My prayers to you as well, Karlos. Get well soon!

yes i was talking about the letter. im upset at them for constantly pushing back the date. i mean, what if the condition was fatal!?!?! WHAT IF HE DIED BECAUSE THEY KEEP PUSHING BACK THE DATE!?!?!!?!? WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE MORONS WHO GOT HIM KILLED BECAUSE THEY THOUGH HIS SURGERY WAS "UNIMPORTANT?!?!!?!?!!?!?!!?!?!?!!?" WHAT WOULD HAPPEN THEN!!?!?!?!?! what would happen then?

sorry. i didnt want a fanficer to die

Okay, calm down legrontron, I know you're worried too, but please don't get negative. Be positive and you'll see everything is gonna be fine. And the fanfiction is the least important. What care the most is to have a great comrade like Karlos still with us.

Hope you get better soon Karlos, I wish you the best of lucks. I trust that everything will turn out well. Hugs for you, man!

Yea i had a lot of stress bottled up and his health issues just broke the camels back. Also "fanficer" refers to karlos not his story. Though I don't want his story do die ether. I'm still waiting for "a whole new world" to update or at least the author to say why he stopped. I mean he just started a new arc and it would've been a good one from the looks of it. Anyways the reason I'm here is too say that I hope karlos gets better.

I had a medical consultation today, to check is everything healing inside. It appears that everything went fine with surgery. All swelling in my nose got burned out and now some time must pass until my nasal mucosas will heal. Still it's unsure what will be with my right passage. It was really thick there and there was a lot of cooking. To decide whenever I will need a second surgery, I need to wait until everything will heal there. Now I'm going to undergo few tests, to see how everything behaves in my nose, will passages remain widened and did purulence stopped. But doctor has a lot of optimism.And I must say I indeed feel better. Although I still have problems with breathing, as all walls in my nose got burned, I feel like a bit of weight just got removed from my head. My nose hurts, less than yesterday, but so far I did not have any headache, which is really marvelous. I really hope this surgery is a sucess. I want this weight to drop off and frequent headaches to come to an end. And I really wish I won't need second surgery. I don't want a barbecue party in my nose again, it's no fun. I wish to all of you to never experience such thing in your life.I was very lucky to get this surgery. The doctor who was taking care of me is my old friend, who was healing my nose since I was a kid. He was able to push me through beaurecratic procedures, truth be told, he had to do this surgery in express mode, as it was illegal. But I also leared a very hard lesson. Being nice, polite and patient is useless in hospital. If I kept such attitude, I would wait to this surgery much longer. I had to learn how to use arts of cunning and go through many argues with hospital personnel, who seemed to like to send me to a dead end way. I had to fight for my survival. Waiting six months, or longer for a rugery that lasts only half an hour. Truly sad and I hope this will change one day. No one deserves to wait while suffering.

I got touched while reading all posts. There's a lot of positive energy coming from all of you. If you say it will be better, then it will be better.

_________________I'm a bookworm!

Wed Apr 17, 2013 6:28 pm

copper

Puppy Wrangler

Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:18 pmPosts: 6362Location: Florida

Re: Housepets: Matt (suspended)

Of course! We are here for you in whatever way we can, which in this case is offering support. I hope all heals well!

_________________My charactersEverybody has a story to tell. What's yours?

I had a medical consultation today, to check is everything healing inside. It appears that everything went fine with surgery. All swelling in my nose got burned out and now some time must pass until my nasal mucosas will heal. Still it's unsure what will be with my right passage. It was really thick there and there was a lot of cooking. To decide whenever I will need a second surgery, I need to wait until everything will heal there. Now I'm going to undergo few tests, to see how everything behaves in my nose, will passages remain widened and did purulence stopped. But doctor has a lot of optimism.And I must say I indeed feel better. Although I still have problems with breathing, as all walls in my nose got burned, I feel like a bit of weight just got removed from my head. My nose hurts, less than yesterday, but so far I did not have any headache, which is really marvelous. I really hope this surgery is a sucess. I want this weight to drop off and frequent headaches to come to an end. And I really wish I won't need second surgery. I don't want a barbecue party in my nose again, it's no fun. I wish to all of you to never experience such thing in your life.I was very lucky to get this surgery. The doctor who was taking care of me is my old friend, who was healing my nose since I was a kid. He was able to push me through beaurecratic procedures, truth be told, he had to do this surgery in express mode, as it was illegal. But I also leared a very hard lesson. Being nice, polite and patient is useless in hospital. If I kept such attitude, I would wait to this surgery much longer. I had to learn how to use arts of cunning and go through many argues with hospital personnel, who seemed to like to send me to a dead end way. I had to fight for my survival. Waiting six months, or longer for a rugery that lasts only half an hour. Truly sad and I hope this will change one day. No one deserves to wait while suffering.

I got touched while reading all posts. There's a lot of positive energy coming from all of you. If you say it will be better, then it will be better.

we are sure of it *hugs* rest and get well soon. we're missing you a lot! And I'm sure your dog misses you too

A comment I forgot to say earlier.:I think that when you accuse FREAKING PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH, THE GUY WHO NEVER EVEN THINKS OF HURTING SOMEBODY ON PURPOSE, OF RUINING YOUR LIFE, YOU ARE A PARANOID FREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 2:48 amPosts: 1497Location: The land of the dulce de leche!

Re: Housepets: Matt (suspended)

Calm down, legotron! Everybody loves Peanut. The protagonists are just having a bad day, that's all.

_________________20th century fox? Given that this is the year 2015, that fox must be dead by now. Sadface! : (

I'm telling you, hyenas ARE canines too! Many biologists died to bring us this information! Why won't you honor their deaths?! What I did to their families?!

Tue May 07, 2013 8:03 pm

MapleRatty

Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2012 4:14 pmPosts: 842

Re: Housepets: Matt (suspended)

Legotron123 Wrote:

A comment I forgot to say earlier.:I think that when you accuse FREAKING PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH, THE GUY WHO NEVER EVEN THINKS OF HURTING SOMEBODY ON PURPOSE, OF RUINING YOUR LIFE, YOU ARE A PARANOID FREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When Matt wipped the steam off the mirror, he barely could keep himself from wincing, as seeing his face made him sure that what it shows is adequate to what he was feeling.

Eyebags seemed to be darker and more swollen. Eyes didn't seem to look straight, red veins were occupying most of the white surface. Lips were dried out and without any color. Even his skin was more pale than it usually is.

He placed his hand on his stomach. It just reminded him that all those sweets and chips he consumed so late at night, and that cola he drank, all of that was still there, inside, trying to get through the process of digestion, but it was going like an old train that should have been on final station a long time ago.

That's how Matt was feeling and how he looked. Sick. And tired. And the hot shower did not help him to ease discomfort of zombie syndrome. He should've been in his warm bed, not in the bathroom preparing his poor body for a hard day at school.

Although Matt often has such days, as he belongs to this group of people who regulary plays the night sport of combating multiple enemies by using computer and proper games, where challenging deathmatches or PvP/ PvE MMORPG combat are performed frequently. Matt not only is a multichampion of cyberfighting arts in many fields, but also his stamina to not fall asleep and then function somehow during daylight had improved during those years. But... that was before his parents decided to give him a dog.

Last night, Matt had to face a situation he never encountered in his young life. Even living in same room with his older brother could not prepare him for that. He did not calculate the fact that the dog is not just a dog, but an extremely stubborn, whimsical pest who, by using his incredible creativity in cunning, is able to use a wide pallette of possibilities to make an experienced PC gamer, the man titled “pro” in this environment, to loose patience and ragequit from gameplay right on the spot.

Later, in the dark, he could see those eyes. The green eyes flashing at him, watching him carefully, observing his every movement in bed. Eyes like they belonged to a snake, who patiently awaits for the right moment to sense insecurity of its prey and make a swift movement to attack. Matt was alert all the time, because he knew that a moment of weakness means to wake up with mouth and limbs sealed with isolation tape. Even now, before stepping into the shower, he found a piece of tape on his arm. He was thankful for not having any hair on it.

Taking away his glance from that sorry face on which he couldn't look at anymore, he splashed some cold water on his burning eyes, used deodorant, pulled black t-shirt on himself and got out of the bathroom, having to support himself on the wall as his stomach was refusing obedience.

The sound of radio was coming out of the kitchen, as usually at this time. Dad changed the channel again, as Matt winced at the sound of kitsch music, where he could not tell did the voice of the performing singer belonged to a man or woman, or was it his/her actual voice. He scented the strong smell of fresh coffee. Before entering, Matt had to give a good stretch to his poor spine and rub his eyes, as his vision was still quite blurr. Looking around, he saw the same familiar morning view – his father sitting at the table, today's newspaper covering most of his wide body, and a mug (only allowed to be used by Dad) filled with hot coffee right next to him. Matt was fine with that. He was not up for any provocation this day and his dad may be too occupied with newspaper to make any conversation.

Matt said something that resembled word “hi” but he wasn't sure was he heard, yet he didn't bother to wait for any response as he already was on his way to shelves. Though his stomach was having malfunctions today, he still wanted to get through breakfast.

Reaching with his hand up for the cupboard, he begun searching for his object of desire, but after a while he slammed the sink with his fist and groaned.

“Aww, maan! Dad, why there's only oatmeal??” Matt whined, turning to his father, “I asked for specific cereal! You know well I hate this junk!”

“Matt, I don't know. Mom was doing all the shopping.” Mr. Sternfeld remained unfazed and kept sitting in same position.

“But you were there with her! And you know that I prefer 'Rickie's Puffs' and 'Grapefellows' from cereals! I've been telling you so many times and you still forget to buy me what I want! Gee, do I need to start writing you notes before you go shopping so you'll remember to buy something that at least contains some little bit of chocolate or honey?”

“Matt, what's your problem?” Mr. Sternfeld peeked through his newspaper from curiosity, “Is there really a difference if you'll neat something that is natural instead of those... choko-something?”

Matt wiped his forehead.

“Dad, you totally do not undeartand. Flavors are one thing, but that really important is sugar, you get it? Sugar, dad!”

Matt leaned all of a sudden to Mr. Sternfeld, making the man to shield himself with newspaper from impulse.

“Every morning you drink coffee. You need your coffee, right?” Matt pointed at Mr. Sternfeld's cup, “You need a dose of caffeine so you can get energy for your daily activities, right? Now look, I'm a young man and I don't drink coffee. But still, just like you, I need energy for daily activities, and though you may believe me or not, I actually do something more than just sitting in room and simply bum as you so much like to point that out, but that's not important now. What I want to say is that, to us, young people who not doze themselves with caffeine, our only hope to survive the day is a substitute of our morning meal. And this is where sugar enters. Only this sweet substance will allow us to live through school, garbage day or watching TV without ending up drolling on a pillow. That's why my demand to eat sweet cereal is justified and whenever you go to shop and look upon them standing on shelves, you should think of my condition, because by buying oatmeal, you condemn me to suffering.”

Mr. Sternfeld listen to this with raised eyebrow, as such speeches were not common for Matt.

“Okay, here is my response to your lecture about contemporary youth's demands: stop complaining and eat what we have. Eating something that contains good nutricional value will not kill you. And if you're really that upset on what we have, we always have bread...”

“You know what dad? You know what?” Matt's finger was now pointed at his dad. “This time you may came out victorious from this psychological skirmish, but that does not mean you've totally won. Soone or later, I'll repay you with the same. You'll just see!”

Matt returned to cupboard. He took out a plastic board and placed it on a counter in a manner like he was fighting himself to not destroy the object. He was angry on himself. He said to himself that he won't even speak a word to dad and five minutes did not pass when he got sucked into this little skirmish, and his mood became even worse than before. And all of that happened because of oatmeal! He promised himself to not let be provoked by the unexpected again, and remain speechless.

He grabbed the pack of oatmeal and gave it a look. There was nothing special about it. No colorful, awesome name of product. No funny mascot of the cereal, who would give that smile which promises happiness when you open that bag. No bowl that is being filled with milk, where those glittering, creatively shaped flakes were about to pour out. The box was simply gray, with a simple name of the product, giving an impression that what awaits inside of it is dullness and no excitement.

Stomach reminded of itself. Though full and sore, Matt's mere though on flavored flakes changed that, as if was empty and it begged to be stuffed with something sweet, but because of dissapointment of not finding the expected thing, stomach became more unbearable, like an angry dog whose owner took his bone away.

“Matt, hurry up or you're gonna be late for school bus.”

Matt grunted as he was closing the fridge. He was about to throw a long bouquet of complaint at his father, but he clenched his teeth just in time to not fall for another trap. He approached the table and placed all his stuff on it, without any trace of aggression this time, to not provoke the beast behind the newspaper. Taking his place, he gave a glance on bowl, bottle of milk and box of oatmeal. He sighed. He was so unhappy that this will soon have to be comsumed. If it would depend from him, he would walk out of the house without eating a breakfast and simply find some local store, where he would satisfy himself with a simple candy bar or pack of sugared almonds. Unfortunately, in Sternfeld household, going out to school without eating breakfast first was absolutely out of question, not because the chief of family would cause a fuss over it, but being feed by mother, who would sense immediately that something's wrong with her son and would rush to help regain apetite, was something that Matt would actually want to avoid, for the sake of his teenage dignity.

“Matt, you look horrible!” Mr. Sternfeld, who could not help himself to not check is his son eating already, have spoken, “Did you not sleep well at night or something?”

Of course Matt looked horrible. But how could he excuse his poor appearance, and the fact that he's not so away from slamming his head against the table and falling asleep? By telling that he was stuck in same room with a little devil? And he had to spend most of the night struggling for his own self security?

“Was it that cold?” Matt couldn't help but sence a nute of sarcasm in his dad's voice, “Hat was not enough?

“Well, I was actually thinking on getting a hot water bottle, but I remembered that those are used by gramps. And I did not want to make you feel upset by taking yours.”

“Hmph...” Mr. Sternfeld's face gained a little pinkish hue, and his glance went back to his newspaper. “Well then, quite unusual situation, giving a fact that your mother and I could barely sleep under covers, as it was pretty hot outside, but you live on the rooftop so maybe temperature there is different. Unless...” The man gave his son a side-glance filled with suspicion, “... you were playing those games on your computer whole night again.”

Matt almost dropped the bottle of milk as he tried to surpress the cough.

“Me? Playing games? No. Of course not,” Matt had to look elsewhere when telling this small, innocently looking lie, “We had a talk about that, remember?”

Matt does remember this talk very well. He was pinned into sofa for like two hours, and conversation looked more like trial, where dad played the role of prosecutor, pinning the accused right to the wall by presenting long list of heavy accusations. The talk ended with a threatening that Matt's computer will get ripped off along with cables and thrown out of the window. Plus no allowance for whole month. Which sucks.

“Yes, I do...” The newspaper rustled and Mr. Sternfeld was back to reading. “I hope we achieved a long term agreement this time. Honestly, you're spending too much of your time in front of your computer playing those violent games, your brain will melt if you'll keep doing that . In my times, the way of spending day having fun was going outdoors and playing with other neighbor kids.”

“My sincere condolences on being born in times of youth's despair.”

“Matt, I'm being serious. You can't live all the time some sort of loner. You really should make some friends. Maybe you will find here some. Or pehaps in your new school.”

“Whatever...”

“Did you at least try to socialize in school? You didn't tell me about your school yet. Do you like it there? Is it better than the one you attended to back in Chicago?”

“Dad, I don't want to talk about this...”

“And when you want to talk about this?” Mr. Sternfeld said with indignation, “It's always like that, whenever I want to make a conversation with you, at once you go for 'no'. Matt, you can't speak to me like that. Sometimes you talk with other people better than with your own father!”

“Dad, please, I'm too tired to argue with you about this again. I only want to eat breakfast...”

“What ever,” Mr. Sternfeld said with resignation, “Just eat quick. I want you to get the school bus on time, you're too old to be drive to school by me.

When that was clear, Matt opened the bottle and poured the cold milk into the bowl, filling it to the edge. That was the easy part. But when he unwrapped the box, his hand shook, and he could swear to himself that he smelled the disgusting scent of wheat. The process of puring the flakes into the bowl was very slow, like Matt was trying to delaying the unavoidable. A mountain of flakes was formed, as the food did not want to sink and combine itself with milk, which Matt found upsetting. When the process of adding oatmeal flakes to the bowl was over, he kept sitting in his place and kept looking at his ready meal like at something terrifying.

He took a piece with a spoon and lifted it on his eyes level, giving it a curious look. There wasn't anything unusual, except the flakes were simply yellowish, ordinary like. Then he took a whiff of the portion, to be sure it's actually an eatable food, not a poison.

“Matt, I told you not so long ago to hurry up. If you won't get out of the house in right time, you won't be able--”

“Dad, stop it!” Matt dropped the spoon right into the bowl, “Can't you understand it's a very difficult situation to me? You're not letting me focus right!

“Okay, sorry...” Mr. Sternfeld felt a little abashed, as he was unaware of getting such reaction from Matt. He decided it will be better if he'll return to sipping coffee and keep reading the newspaper, thus not stressing his son.

Matt took the portion of flakes again. His mind was sending him alerts all the time to not allow this food to enter his mouth, providing him with couple of imaginations of how this may end up for him, beginning from feeling the horrible taste for most of the morning, to ending with spitting on the table, and on his dad, which would totally cross the line today. But at the same time, he did realize there's no other way, but stay strong this time and face the nightmare of many children across the world. He took a deep, relaxing breath and opened his mouth. The trial commenced.

The spoon entered Matt's mouth, teeth closed right behind the head. He waited a bit, then, took the spoon out and placed it back into the bowl. Tongue began to work first, then Matt's cheeks began to move as slow chewing began, teeth cracking the crunchy flakes. Suddenly, he stopped. Matt's shoulders trembled, there was a clear grimace on his face. His mouth puffed. His eyes became glassy, and a long, muffled moan came from his throat, as he could not open his mouth.

He felt the burning urge to spit out everything. To avoid that, he went for emergency swallowing. Leaning back and raising his chin, he tried to force himself to send the food right down the throat into stomach. Strange, gurgling sounds came out from his throat when swallowing begun. This, however, was proven to be not so easy, as the cereal was not chewed completely into mash, so it was like swallowing heavy iron with spikes. Throat seemed to resist, but eventually Matt found strengh to give a strong push. It went down very slowly and painfully, landing in base with a crump. When it was done, Matt immediately took lots of air to his lungs and had to bent and give himself time till the wave of discomfort coming from his unhappy belly will cease.

There was no time to rest, however. Though it was a horrible experience, Matt had to continue before the feeling of resignation will took him over. Now it was not just a breakfast. Eating this oatmeal was a challenge now. A war. And though he was the one receiving a beating, he still could not let the awful oatmeal win over him. Without hesitation, he took another portion with his spoon.

Mr. Sternfeld couldn't resist taking a little peak at his son to check how he's doing. What he saw was not eating brekfast, but more like a torture, where victim is forced to eat pieces of glass.

“You know, maybe if you put it into microwave and warm it--”

“Shush! I think I'm getting used to it.”

It was still awful to his taste, but indeed, with every portion he took to his mouth, eating was becoming easier and less uncomfortable. Even his stomach decided to give up and stay at bay, though it let out a quiet growl sometimes.

Fives minutes passed. The bowl was half empty. Matt decided to take a small break and placed the spoon down.

“Disgusting!” He exclaimed, giving a stern stare to his bowl, “How people can eat that. It tastes so... normal.”

Mr. Sternfeld assumed its safe to look at Matt again. He gave his son a comforting smile.

“I did not like grain food when I was your age, too,” He said to him, “I actually did not eat most of food. But when a person gets older, a lot of habits change. Oh yes, a lot changes...” Smiling to himself, he leaned back on his chair, falling into reverie.

Matt looked at his father. More precisely at his red woolen sweater, in white-black stripes laying in different, granny-like patterns. The sweater was barely covering a well round belly, sleeves and uneven collar of a shirt sticking out clearly.

“When cruel fate of time and space will claim my juvenility, I hope it won't leave me that much destructed.” Matt commented while watching his father's fashion, then took a spoon into his hand.

Matt took a portion of food on his spoon. He opened his mouth and was just about to put the food into his mouth, but at this moment, it hit him that a certain chair at his side is empty.

“Hey, have you seen the dog?”

Mr. Sternfeld lifted his eyes from the newspaper and looked around the kitchen.

“He was here somewhere...”

“He was here?”

“I think so. No... wait, he was here. For a moment. But I don't know where he is now.”

Matt placed the spoon back to the bowl. “How strange...” He said to himself, with a tune of suspiciousness.

And suspicous it was. Since that little devil appeared in this house, the only place where Matt could be alone was the bathroom. Other than that, no matter where Matt went – was it his own room, living room, kitchen, attic, basement, garrage, porch or yard, the dog was there with him, reminding with his existence and pert snout what a pain in a certain place it is, making Matt's life miserable in the process. But the dog's absence in the kitchen at morning, where he usually was found devouring his dry food vigorously and saying snappy comments, happened for the very first time. Normally, Matt would find this as a blessing, but he already knows this dog enough to understand that this is kinda wrong.

He began to look around the kitchen. There was no one, except his occupied with daily news dad. Nothing furred was hiding in a corner, glued to a window or hanging on chandelier, there was nothing that would indicate a surprise assassination attempt. He looked down the table. No mean spirit was found there and his shoelaces were alright. This time.

“Matt, will you finally finish your breakfast or not?”

“Alright, alright!” Matt fumed. He took the spoon into his hand and dig it into cereal in a way like he performed a stab with a knife. “I'm eating already!”

“You don't need to speak to me in such way!” Mr. Sternfeld gave a reprimend.

“Matt, don't fuss! If you weren't straggling, I would not say it to you!”

Matt knew he's getting into rooster fight again. Anger swelled in him, because he was sure he's the one with most right, while his father sees his defence as exaggerating. However, reminding himself of his decision not to fall into any fight, and calculation the fact of being way too tired for this today, the ticked teen managed to put his emotions at bay and just let it go.

“Fine...” He murmured, and put the spoon into his mouth quite unwillingly.

After this moment of tension, where Matt was being pushed to finish his breakfast as fast as possible, the oatmeal seemed more disgusting to him than at the beginning, probably because he had another reason to hate the food. But after some time, where couple of minutes seemed to be eternity of agony, the bowl of bitterness at long last got emptied. Metallic spoon fell into empty bowl, ringing sound announced hard chieved victory. He was feeling satisfaction of his achievement, yet he knew that as soon as he will get out of the house, he must find some local shop and stuff himself with sweets, as an apologetic offering to his stomach for showing it such contempt, and feel as a normal self again.

The kitchen was not a safe zone, and as long as he was here, along with his dad, Matt risked another conflict. Not wasting any time, he took the bowl into his hand, stood up, approached the sink, bet over the sink and rest his forehead on his palm as he moved too fast for his tired organism and had to rest for a bit to not fall unconscious on kitchen floor which would be incredibly embarrasing to him, threw the bowl unceremoniously into the sink, turned on his heels and approached the exit with a fast pace, as he wanted to get to coat hanger as soon as he can.

“Matt, dishes will wash themselves?”

The boy did not make it in time to kitchen exit to not hear this, and his father's notice worked as an obstacle, blocking the way. An answer was already formed in Matt's head, but his mind also formed dad's answer on his answer, which would be how can you make your own loving mother clean after you, aren't you too old for that?, so at this case he could only shuffle back to the sink with a long face and turn the water on.

“Dad, we do live in a twenty-first century, you know?” Matt said, as he waited till the water will get warm enough to start washing, “And people who live in twenty-first century do think about getting a wash machine to kitchen when moving to a new house, you know?”

“Oh, I'm sorry, but as a conservative person born in previous century, where there were no technical wonders of household, from my personal experience of using water, sponge, and dish soap, I believe if I was able to do that for more than four decades, I don't see any reason why anyone in this house wouldn't be able to perfom such not so complicated physical activity, especially my quite lazy son, for who this might be helpful, as he will at least move those thin arms from time to time. Saving on water is a different subject, though.” Mr. Sternfeld sumed up, taking an occasional sip of his coffee while doing so.

“More like conservative caveman...”

“What was that?”

“I didn't say a thing.”

“I hope so.”

Matt somehow washed the bowl and spoon without using detergents or a sponge. It was all too useless and boring to him, therefore quick rubs with his fingers were considered to be enough to make dishes clean. As he placed the stuff on dryer, not caring did he do it properly, at once he made an attempt to reach the exit.

“And the dog will feed himself?”

Matt froze just before the exit. When he turned around to face his father, his brow was twitching.

“Oh, you just can't be serious!” he said to him reproachfully, “Dad, he has thumbs! Besides, you said yourself not so long ago that we have a fridge!”

One glance through the newspaper helped Matt understand that saying to a conservative person born in previous century such obviousness above obviousnesses is like saying it to a blank wall. He approached, or rather stomped, to one of the counters, took out a plastic bowl along with a bag of dry food for dogs, filled it barely, and showed it into a corner of the room, ina manner like he actually wanted to throw it out of the window. With this being done, Matt began the third attempt of escape.

“Matt...”

'WILL YOU DECIDE FINALLY?' flashed through Matt's mind. He was not sure anymore does his father really want him to go to school, just mock him around, or has a flat sence of humor. With trembling fists and curved lips, he forced himself to look upon his parent once more.

“What is it...”

Mr. Sternfeld folded the newspaper and placed it on the table, right next to his cup of coffee. Clasping his fingers and placing his hands on his round belly, he gave Matt a very serious, filled with concern look. At this moment Matt knew that right now he's about to hear something he won't find enjoyable.

“My apology, I forgot to tell you,” He began, “You see, this morning, there was an accident with the couch again.”

Matt did not show any reaction at first, except of widening his eyes when hearing this. Then he covered his face in his hand, sighed, and shook his head from disbelievement, as he knows well what the couch accident means to him.

“Don't sulk, Matt!” Mr. Sternfeld said to him sharply, “I told you so many times to solve this problem and yet it still happens! I'm getting tired of this, you understand me? It's the third time in a row!”

“But daad! What can I do about it?!”

“What do you mean 'what can you do about it'?” Mr. Sternfeld seemed to get angrier, “What kind of answer is that? I said clearly that dog is not allowed to be on the couch, and I ablolutely do not want to see him mark it as his zone! Do you understand me?”

“But dad--”

“Do you u n d e r s t a n d?”

“But that's not fair, dad!” Matt whined, “You can't blame me for things that were done by the dog!”

“Now listen to me, Matthew”, Mr. Sternfeld narrowed his eyes at his son, “The dog is yours, therefore he is your responsibility. You know very well there are strickt rules in this house which I demand to be followed. When I say that dog is not allowed to be on the couch, since the dog is your responsibility, I expect from you to teach him to follow this rule. And if the dog will cause some mischief, you are the one who will take consequences for that, because dog's behavior depends from how you educate him! Our couch is brand new and was not cheap, and I don't want it to get ruined because of your dog!”

“Okay, that crosses the line!” Matt quickly approach his dad and pointed his finger at his face, making the man the lean back a bit from surprise, “First thing, it was not my idea to get a dog to our house! You got that thing without even asking for my opinion on that! Second, when you purchased that dog, all you did was saying that it's mine, and you placed him in my room, without asking for my opinion either! You want to know how I felt? Horrible! Like I'm not even being here! You treat me in a way like whatever I feel or say has no importance to you and to mom, and all what you care is what you want the most, not what I want, more like you were forcing happiness upon me, not even caring do you actually throw anguish upon me! My responsibility, you say? Well, let me share my personal thoughts on this matter: you may say that dog is my property and my responsibility, but I totally do not feel that way. I do not feel like I own the dog, or feel responsible for him. I don't give a care about him. I don't like him. For me, he can do whatever it pleases him, even if it is destruction of the house, I will not bother. If you expected that you will teach me some sort of lesson that there's also love, care, cuddles, or some other junk that will prove to me that world is also constructed from rainbows and cupcakes, then you're totally wrong! If you're so sore about your not so cheap couch, then take care of this problem yourself, because I do not care, and I will not care!”

Mr. Sternfeld was looking at his son in complete daze. None of them said anything, only radio with some recently popular teenage vocalist was playing in the background.

“That's all of my statement,” Matt broke the silence with a softened voice, “Now excuse me, but if I remember well, I'm supposed to be hurrying for the bus. So... cya.”

Matt turned on his heels and went straight for the exit, leaving his astonished father behind him and not waiting for any response from him. Just when the young teen dissapeared, a frown appeared on Mr. Sternfeld's forehead, and the man began to breath heavily.

“M-matt... Matthew! What was that supposed to be?! Matthew, I'm not done talking to you, you hear me?! Get straight back here! Matthew!”

Mr. Sternfeld was about to lift himself from chair and make a chase after his son, but to his dismay, his mobile phone rang. Pulling it out from his pocket, he saw on the screen it's one of his customers, and he could not neglect the call.

“When I'll get back home we're gonna have a serious face to face talk on the couch, young man!” He yelled loud enough to be hear. But Matt pretended to not hear this anymore. He was too busy with putting on his leather jacket, but he was in such fury and so frustrated that he found it difficult to put his arms into sleeves.

As he adjusted his spiked bracelets, so they could keep gloves on hands properly enough to not show any flesh, he rushed to the frontal door of the house. He unlocked the lock, and as he placed a hand on the door knob, he heard a sigh of dissapointment behind his back. He knew very well to who it belonged and why this person expressed it. Letting out a low groan, he hung his head, turned around, and approached the person.

Matt's glance went up. Before him was standing his mother. He was looking at her son with glittering eyes, like he was made of pure gold. Under her nose was the same smile – very cheerful and covered in a thick layer of lipstick. Her lush, brown hair was being tied by a green bandana in white spots, while she was wearing an apron in same design. The only thing not matching his mother's choice of fashion were yellow rubber gloves. It was obvious that today mom is going to have grand battle with various types of dirt in the house, and there's no way there are going to be any survivals, as she's pretty skilled with her usage of deadly tools, such as different types of cloths specially made for different surfaces, a brand new mop that was designed by experts from Switzerland (that's what at least the TV aid said), and ultrasilence vacuum SuperSucker 3000 Plus.

“Good luck in school, sweetie,” Mrs. Sternfeld spoke to her son with a soft voice, which made the boy sick, “I made you some sandwiches so you won't be hungry. And don't look inside until lunchtime!”

“Thanks...” Matt said without enthusiasm. He stretched his hands forward, so his mom could give him packed lunch, fastened with a red ribbon, which Matt found shameful.

“Now give your old mom a goodbye kiss!”

And that was even more shameful to the boy, as he believed he's not a little kid anyone, but a grown teenager who hates to be treated like a kid. Yet he did not dare to dissapoint his mother, so he bent down and gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

“I'll be going now.”

Until he could move, Mrs. Sternfeld stopped him in doing this by resting her hand on his chest.

“Oh, you grew up so handsome!” Her hand went up and clutched his cheek caressingly, “It won't be too long till all girls in school will be hunting for you.”

“Mom, come on...” Matt felt incredibly embarrased by this statement, which could be seen by his slight flush on his face. Having his cheek being touched like that was embarrasing too, but it felt really weird when it was being done with a rubber glove on.

“And you have such shapely ears!” Mrs. Sternfeld seemed to not have any intensions to quit, as now her hand was pulling on Matt's ear, “You clearly have them after your mom.”

“Mom...”

Now the gloved hand was rummaging in Matt's thick bush of hair, which made the boy wince, as he hated when someone was doing that.

“And your hair is so thick. If you were born a girl, I would plait you braids all the time.”

“Gee, mom, thank you very much for making me feel so awkward on my self existence...”

Matt managed to free himself from his mother's hands, but not from the awkward feeling of combined shame and creepiness she left in his mind. When he was opening the door, he could hear her how she giggles.

“When you'll get back, we'll try the pyjamas I bought you!”

*SLAM!*

Matt sighed with relief as he finally found himself outside, leaving the problematic inhabitants of his house behind him.

He stood on roofed porch for a moment. He did not want to be outside actually. He would prefer to be buried in his bed sheets, or just stay in his room and do some things that will help him rest. But he did not want to be home either, not after what he experienced there. He could not eat what he wanted, he could not eat in peace, and dad had to keep complaining to him instead of giving him a break for once. And what's worst, he got blamed for something he did not do.

The dog... even when not being physically nearby, he still drags Matt into troubles. The boy was so mad. At lack of sleep, his tired body, at oatmeal, at the sink, at dad, at dad's complaints, at dad's stubborness, at the dog, at his jacket, at mom's girlishly made lunch pack, at the house he despises, at the porch he's currently standing on... actually, everything alive or not alive was ticking off Matt. The dog mostly.

The day barely began and it sucks already. He could stay on this porch and keep complaining in his thoughts, but he was fed up with the house already and decided to step down

“Augh! The sun!”

Matt immediately shielded himself with his arms. When being on porch, he was hidden in a shadow. But now he was fully exposed to the sun, a thing he truly dislikes. It always felt to him like it was burning his skin, and Matt hates when he sweats. To his discomfort, the sky was clear from any clouds, so the sun, to his great dismay, will shine on him with full potential of its solar power.

He had to wait for moment until his eyesight will adjust, as the sun was shining right at his face. Shielding his eyes with his palm and narrowing his eyes, he could see the wicket. He stepped forward.

Just when he was halfway there, a sudden though struck him. Something was completely wrong and he knew that. All of that was going too easy so far. And he knows why that was impossible. He knows all too well.

All of a sudden he began to feel like he's in grave danger. And the worst of all was that, while standing in frontal yard of his house, it was like being in center of a frying pan. Matt felt defenseless. He was completely exposed to danger, which might lurk anywhere on the open field.

He slouched, then crouched. He was not safe here. Attack may come any second now. He began to crouch to the wicket. All his way he kept looking around. There was no place where potential danger could hide, as all what was there was mainly grass and only a lawn mower left somehwere in the middle. There was also nothing on the rooftop of the house, or something in a window, from where a sniper attack may take place.

He got to the wicket. No damage so far. He carefully lifted himself up a bit, only allowing his forehead and eyes to be seen. First he looked is there anything dangerous on the other side of the fence. When he was sure that the sidewalk under the fence is clear, he lifted his eyes to see rest of the surrounding. Everything seemed to be normal. Entire street was peaceful, as there was no living soul to be seen. There was nothing unusual with neighbor houses either. Also trees seemed to give shelter to birds and small critters, rather than any potential assassin.

It would seem to Matt that street is clear. He can't see the familiar dog anywhere. But he still wasn't sure is it safe. He let go of the wicket and slowly lowered himself to hide again, placing his palms on the ground while doing so, and touching a furred foot by accident.

“AAAHHH!!!” Matt shouted as he felt he touched a foot of some animal and immediately leaned against the fence as much as he was able to, shielding himself with his arms and legs.

“Shhh!” The animal lifted his bronze-furred hand and covered Matt's lips to silence him, “Keep it low profile. I'm not here to cause any trouble, okay?”

That was not the familiar voice Matt expected to hear. When he felt his lips being freed, he opened his eyes. What he saw in front of him was not his dog, but a wild raccoon, who also appeared to be startled by sudden contact.

“Look, I know what you're thinking,” The raccoon spoke, “That I'm here to steal your trash. I know I look really suspicious because I'm a racoon and we tend to steal your trash, but believe me, I'm not here to do that. I'm just a wild animal who just tresspasses your lawn, who seeks no trouble but want to get on the other side of your property. See, I don't even hold anything in my hands.”

He presented his body in a way like he wanted to proof he's truly naked, which was already obvious to Matt.

“Besides, we don't do it in daylight, while, you see, raccoons steal during night. Wait, did I said steal? Oh, sorry, bad choice of words! It's actually trying to obtain food in order to survive. Ahahaha! Haha!” The raccoon laughed at himself, which made the crittel feel at ease, “So really, there no need to be worried, or be suspicious about me, because as you can see, there's absolutely nothing suspicious going on your territory.”

“Fals, I'm done here! I'm throwing bags through the fence!”

*THACK*

All of a sudden, a big, black bag containing garbage appeared right at raccoon's side. Few seconds passed and another bag came down on the ground. A sound of scrapping was heard on the other side of the fence, and soon another raccoon appeared. He jumped down and approached his companion.

“I did as you told me, placed the trashcans back on their place and cleaned the place, so it will look like a garbage truck passed this way,” The racoon, who appeared to be smaller and chubbier than his companion, explained, “Hey, why are you giving me such look? I did something wrong again?”

Instead of telling him, the taller raccoon raised his finger to point at something. The small one looked that way and gasped.

“Hey, who is this kid. Do you know each other?” he said, pointing his thumb at curled Matt.

“Okay! I can explain this!” The taller raccoon showed his small companion aside and approached Matt, “I can explain!”

“Seriously?” Matt couldn't help himself from saying this.

“Look, I know this looks bad to you, but we really have no intention in stealing your garbage!”

“We don't?” The small raccoon spoke, for which he received a foot on his face and a shove from his colleague.

“We're not doing this because we want to be malignant to you or something,” The raccoon kneeled down in front of Matt, “Mother nature created us this way and it's our method to feed ourselved and our families! We're doing this because of hunger, not egoism! Besides, we're actually doing you a favor! Because... what's the use of waiting for trash day when we can pick your trash instead? That way, we can both be beneficiaries instead of enemies. You get your trashcans cleaned and we get food. Isn't that more ecologic? And you support nature's children, too! So what do you say? Did I help you get a better view on our motives?”

The raccoon looked deeply into Matt's eyes, hoping to find there compassion and understanding. Instead, there was only indifference. That's why the animal's glance went at something that was making his nose twitch for quite a while.

“SNATCH AND RUN!” The raccoon snatched out the lunch bag from Matt's hand and took off, taking one of the bags on his way. Yet there was one, noticeable thing he left behind.

„Please don't feel upset,” The raccoon, who apparently missed the point, said to Matt in apologizing manner, „I wish we could greet each other in a better way, but Falstaff says we're not rabed and we should not get close because humans in gen-- ACK!”

The coon was not able to finish, as his companion yanked him by his scruff and took him, yet he was able to grab the other bag by reflex.

Matt watched them running to back side of the yard. As they got to the fence, both of them throwed the bags on the other side. The taller coon climbed on the fence and dissapeared. The other tried the same, but had great difficulties, as his stubby leg could not reach the edge of the fence. His partner showed up again. He pulled the small coon by his arms to help him get on the other side, but had a lot of difficulties in lifting the weight. After couple of huffs and puffs, the raccoon managed to pull his friend and soon a noise of falling bodies and cries could be heard from neighbor yard.

„Hey Fals, I'm sitting on something that feels really weird.”

„That's because you're sitting on my face, you dolt...”

„Phew... just some stupid raccoons.” Matt said to himself as he wiped his forehead. He was feeling relief. For a moment, when he felt he touched that foot, he was certain he met his doom. That, luckily to him, did not happen. Getting up, he brushed his pants from dirt and went back to the wicket.

Opening the wicket, he went out carefull, looking around himself. Looking on his left, he only saw empty street, couple of trees and houses standing in line. Looking on his left, the scenery looked the same. View behind his back was also not unusual, his house seemed to be the same as when he looked at it the last time. As he found himself on the sidewalk, he carefully closed the wicket and could not help himself from letting out a sigh of relief he kept surpressed in his lungs for so long. A simple walk through the yard that would take him only a couple seconds turned into a slink at the edge of risk, where mistake would lead him to fall into trap. And he knew that. Yet it was now when confidence was slowly getting back to him.

Matt scratched his head. He just found himself outisde of his family possesion, on street. And still the presence of malicious being was not near him, which was strange, because he knew that the dog will still crave for revenge for gaming night. But on the other hand, some small part of his consciousness was trying to suggest him something. Matt looked in direction of the bus stop, then on his watch. He actually still has a lot of time till the school bus' arrival. He felt that familiar sweet sensation. That sensation which was telling him to use the occasion given by life. He made up his mind. He looked once more at the house, more precisely at the kitchen windows, to be sure is there no face of his father visible. It was clear. He adjusted his jacket and slowly he began to walk away, in opposite direction where he was supposed to go.

Thoughts focused on doubt, suspiciousness, awareness and false security were slowly fading away, as the boy's mind was now trying to focus on some ways to spend time. Matt does not know Babylon Gardens at all, as he did not bother to explore his new place of living yet, but he already knew there's no such place as arcade zone in this boring place. Now it occured to him – is here any interesting place to spend the time well and away from any pets? Is here any place that is specifically for humans, not pets? He knows there's an ice cream parlor not too far, but he does not want to spend whole day there, and also it's too risky to be too near home. The only solution may lay in nearby town, but that's still too far away to get there on foot. Matt frowned from his effort on focusing. It would seem he is stuck here, with no place where he could wait till school is over. He remembered something. There's a forest near the neighborhood. He can go there. Yes, that may be the way. He may explore the forest, taking a stroll among the tall trees. If he'll get tired of walking, he'll just find some place where he can take a rest and pull out his old walkman and listen to the music, perhaps taking a nap. Maybe there's some lake? Or a cave?

All this time his glance was glued to the ground and his arms were crossed as he was deep in his thoughts. The pale face birghtened a bit. He made up his mind. Today, he will go hide himself deep in the forest. After the stressfull talk with his father, serenity may do him good. He lifted his head to look which way will lead him there. His eyes squinted. There was something on the road in distance. Matt could not tell what it is, as it was too far away. The thing was getting bigger and it began to gain shape. Matt thought it's some kid riding a scooter. A kid here? Matt can't recall did he see any kids here since he moved into neighborhood, so this one may be the first he will see here, which he found intriguing, as he had a funny impression of being the only one here of 'youngling' species.

The kid was getting close, and he seemed to drive his scooter with a great speed as his left leg was working hard on propelling. When he was not too far, his shape was getting clear, and Matt discovered, much to his horror, that it was not a kid, but a dog. Yes, a dog! A brown one, with his tongue lolled out and his long ears waving on both sides of his head. Matt was breathless. Heart leaped up his throat. He had no doubt what a dog it is. The confidence, that not so long ago shyly came back to him, was gone for good, and screaming fright took its place. Hearing the squeaky sounds coming from small wheels brought Matt back to his sences. At once he turned on his heels and began to run. That, however, lasted very shortly, as there was a crooked place on the sidewalk and Matt found himself flat on the ground.

When he looked up, he had no chance to yelp as two brown hands were already leaping at him.

Also I've been looking at some of the posts I made here before you left and I'm banging my head on the wall over them. I know we can all say we were dumber when we were younger but I can't help beating up my self over them. I haven't even read the update yet because I'm put off by my own posts. Hope I'm not guilt tripping you guys, I've just wanted to talk to someone about that.

YAY THE GANG IS BACK! Apparently, a bad night's sleep didn't do much good to Matt But it surely gave Bino a ton of inspiration for mischief: seeing him on a bike is quite the show.Can't wait to see the next installment!

EDIT - forgot to comment over this.

Quote:

“But you were there with her! And you know that I prefer 'Rickie's Puffs' and 'Grapefellows' from cereals!

Genius, Sir!

_________________

Fri Jul 04, 2014 9:57 am

copper

Puppy Wrangler

Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:18 pmPosts: 6362Location: Florida

Re: Housepets: Matt

Good to see you back on the fic. Been a long time since we have seen these two! Hope you come around more often, bud!

_________________My charactersEverybody has a story to tell. What's yours?

You're right, my elemental friend. I've been gone for too long. I still have a lot to tell in my story, despite my failures and great stress I feel whenever I write. But someone special said that mistakes are good. No matter the circumstances, I will continue my story and feel happy by doing so.

Matt had his eyes closed all the time so he could not see what he's doing, but he made sure to wave his hands intensively for self defense and slap the furred limbs that were trying to seize him.

“AAH!! No!! Leave me alone!!”

Matt tried his best to not allow the animal hands get a grip on him, but his attacker seemed to not think on giving up that easily, as each wave was met with a slap. This continued for a good moment, until Matt found opportunity to move away. He crawled backwards a bit and then got on his feet and raised his fists.

“You sick dog! Why won't you just leave... ah...”

Matt found himself speechless. He did not expect this. Yes, still before him was standing a dog, but not the one he thought he was sure to see. It was other dog, different that the one living with him and making his life suck more than it usually does.The dog's fur had a lighter shade of brown, and from snout, through his torso to the bottom of his belly, it was covered in cream color. His ears were long, but were raised up and curving out. He wore a red collar on his neck, and like every pet in the neighborhood, he had his personal tag attached to it. A white tag in a shape of a bone.

The dog also seemed to be very surprised, because he was standing still, with his hands still lifted and his wide eyes focused entirely on the boy. None him or Matt made even a twitch, only kept standing on the sidewalk and exchange their gawks.

The dog raised his hands. He lifted his foot and made a step back. Then he made another step. And another. Slowly, the distance between him and Matt began to get wider, as the dog was walking backwards, each movement of his feet placed carefully on the ground and not taking off his glance from the boy even for a second. Then he stopped and dropped his arms.

“Hey mister, is this distance safe to you?” The dog spoke.

Matt did not understand what the dog was saying. He shook his head lightly.

“I asked is this distance safe for you!”

Matt still couldn't understand what the dog was trying to say by this.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Matt said back.

“Well, you probably thought I'm going to hurt you or something. So I walked back away from you so you can understand that I'm not an aggressive dog and I mean you no harm.” The dog explained.

“That you're not aggressive? Then why you tried to lay your hands on me, huh?”

“You got it all wrong! I was riding my push scooter down the road when I saw you running and suddenly you fell hard on the ground, so I stopped and stepped down from my scooter and ran to you to see are you okay, but then you began to waive your hands everywhere around and you were screaming awful lot!”

At this moment Matt had to turn his face away to hide his little blush. Now that he was thinking about it, maybe indeed he did overreact. A bit.”

“But it's okay. I'm sorry if I scared you, I really didn't mean it. There's no need to be afraid of me, I'm a good dog. Look, I'm even vaccinated against rabies!”

The dog reached into his collar with his hand and pulled out something that looked like a card.

“Okay mister, now I'm going to slowly approach you. Do not turn to me sideways and keep your eyes on me all the time, okay?”

The dog began to walk slowly towards Matt. Just like previously when he was stepping away, his movement was very careful, like a prey that wanted to have curious look at sleeping predator. Matt wasn't feeling like he was in danger and he was not afraid that the dog would leap at him all of a sudden if he would make a false move, but yet he could not stop looking at his rather strange to him behavior.

“Don't turn sideways!” The dog yelled all of a sudden as he stopped in his tracks.

Matt shuddered from the sudden yell. He had no intention to move at all, but now he noticed that his foot indeed made a slight move by coincidence.

“Calm down. I don't want to hurt you,” The dog reassured him, “Just keep standing in place and keep looking at me all the time, please.”

Matt did as the dog asked him and he tried to keep his limbs at bay from now on. The dog continued his careful approach. It took some time, but finally the dog found face to face, or rather face to belly button with the boy again.

“Here, take a look at my card.” The dog lifted his hand in which he was holding the plastic card.

Matt took the card from the dog's hand and examined it. It appeared to be a special card issued by U.S. state, which proved that its owner has valid vaccination against rabies. There was a facial picture of this brown dog, on which he seemed to be very happy, judging from his curled up lips on his muzzle and bright eyes. There was also some information, like the dog's pet name, the owner's name and address, the animal clinic in which the vaccination took place, signature of veterinarian and for how long vaccination is valid. There was also a special stample on it, which meant that this dog was a very good boy when taking the shot.

“See? I'm all safe. You can touch me without any doubts, mister.” The dog said to him and this time he gave a boy a smile, his tail gave a little wag even. He took the card from Matt's hand and hid it back into his collar. When he raised his head to look at Matt's face, his smile dropped and his eyes grew wider. “Whoa!”

Matt raised an eyebrow. “What?”

The dog raised himself on his toes, placed his hands on Matt's chest and leaned his head closer, like he tried to look deeper into Matt's eyes.

“We have the same eye color! That's so cool!” The dog said with big excitement, “I've never met anyone who would have the same eye color like me before!”

“Hey, get off me!” Matt pushed the dog away with force. The dog's body wobbled, but was able to keep the balance and not fell on the ground.

“Sorry! Am I still making you feel uncomfortable?” He said, raising his hands.

“Yes!” Matt hissed. He began to dust off his leather jacket, like there was a lot of dirt on him.

The dog placed his hand under his chin and began to scratch it, thinking intensively on whole situation.

“In that case... how about I give you a reassurance hug?” The dog smiled again and extended his arms toward Matt.

“No!”

“Aww, but why?” The dog looked worried.

“I don't want you to touch me!” Matt hissed back.

“You don't want me to touch you at all?”

“Yes!”

“Not even a simple touch? Or accidental brush?”

“No touching!” Matt waived his hands in front of the dog in disagreement, “No touching at all!”

The dog scratched himself behind his head. He looked a bit surprised by this, like it was a little strange to him to hear such a thing from someone.

“Well... then I understand, though it's kinda silly. I won't touch you, if that will make you feel more comfortable.” Smile returned on his muzzle, and even his tail began to wag a little now that he was looking at the boy.

Matt began to get angry. He kept asking himself in his head why this strange mutt just had to stuck to him. His presence was enough to make him feel annoyed. Even now, the brown dog was still standing in front of him, smiling to him in a friendly manner, glancing at him like he was a new toy in the playground, and his tail wagging behind there all the time. How disgusting. He doesn't want to be his object of interest, not to mention causing the pet to be happy just by appearance. He should say something spiteful, mean, rude, so he can rub that smile off the dog's face and make him go away with sadness. But he had no time for this. He still need to get to the forest before someone, or somedog, will find out he's trying to skip school. Dealing with this dog from the beginning was already a waste of time. Not saying anything, he just turned away from the dog.

“Hey mister, are you a teenager?”

Matt almost fell on the ground from jolt. The dog, who Matt thought he left behind him, was in front of him again, with the same smile and same wagging speed.

“Wha...”

“I asked are you a teenager.”

Matt gave him a questioning glance.

“Uh... what kind of question is that?” Matt said with disbelieve, “Isn't it obvious to you already?”

“Hmm...” The dog supported his chin on his hand, eyeing Matt from tip to toe. He looked, and looked, and looked, and it could be seen on his face that he was brainstorming heavily. Matt wasn't sure was this dog kidding with him or not. He crossed his arms and waited. Not with anticipation.

The dog stepped forward to get a closer look at the boy. Matt did not like this, because the dog began to walk around him in circle, very close to his body, disturbing his personal space. He kept his glare on him, hoping he won't try to touch him, or worse - sniff him.

The dog looked at every aspect of Matt's body with great interest. He started from checking the head. His gaze mainly focused on the place where his ears were supposed to be but were hidden in the thicket of black hair, and on his pale lips. Then was the outfit, at which he took his time, as clearly that was what was amazing him the most. With awe he looked at Matt's leather jacket, but what mostly interested him were the spikes on shoulders, and spiked bracelets on Matt's wrist. He kept his hands close to himself, but the way how his fingers were twitching was enough to say that he really wanted to touch those places. Then he squatted to have a look at black pants, but only for moment, as he noticed Matt's heavy boots and keeled down to have a very close look on these.

He got back on his feet. “Can I take a sniff of you?” He asked with innocence.

The wry face Matt made was enough to tell the dog of disapproval on this idea. He was a bit disappointed, but nodded politely in understanding and took a look at Matt once more. Then he stepped back.

“Well...” The dog scratched his head. He looked troubled, “I think... I mean... something tells me that you are, but...”

“But what?” Matt said with impatience. He was growing tired of this, “Chris, dog, you make it sound like you've never seen any teenager at all!”

“I mean, I did see a teenager,” The dog smiled sheepishly at the boy, “I've seen lots in television, or sometimes when mom or dad took me with them to town and I've seen some in a distance, or in mall. But I've never seen a teenager close. Like really close, like we are now. And I think I never spoke to any.”

“Kid, you're tryin' to mess with me, right?”

“Nu-uh! I'm honest!” The dog said. He looked at his fingers, “I've seen a toddler, preschooler, primary school kid who was a freshman, some other kids from primary school, Uncle Reuben's kids, a girl who claimed to be thirteen years old, but I'm not sure that counts as being teenager as her mom told her that she's so childish... oh, there was this girl with a dragon tattoo which I was beating in dance simulation in arcade, but then she happened to be a different being, so I don't think she can count...”

Matt had not his mouth opened when he was listening to this, but was dumbstruck for sure. After listening to all of this he was sure that this dog is not a normal dog, but either he's all bonkers in his head, or he's that childish.

“So yeah, I don't think I've ever met a teenager in person,” The dog's glance went back on Matt, “You may be the first one, though I'm not sure, because you also look like a rockstar. I can't make up my mind, are you a teenager, or a rockstar?”

“Maybe a hybrid?” Matt couldn't help himself.

But he quickly realized his mistake, when he saw that the dog's pupils flashed, his mouth opened slightly, and his tail began to wag. This was indication of upcoming explosion of amazement.

“Yes, I'm a teenager! Sheesh...” Matt cut off the dog before he was able to let out a word from his muzzle.

“Hey, that's cool! My first teenager!” The dog bounced from excitement, and his tail was wagging there behind him happily, “You know mister, you're really incredible. Not only you're the first human in my life who has the same eye color as me, but you're also the first teenager who I spoke to in my life. I'm really happy to stumble upon you. I think that we-”

“Hey, anyone ever told you that you should never talk to a stranger?”

“Eh?” The dog looked at Matt surprised.

“You heard me,” Matt placed his hand on his hip and gave the dog a stern gaze, “You're not supposed to speak with strangers like they were some good ol' pals. Don't you know it, sucker?”

“Oh... you're right.” The dog dropped his glance and placed his hand on his pane. He looked ashamed.

“Hmph. Don't speak with anyone you don't know at all, kid.” The boy said scornfully at the dog. “So long.” He added and made a step forward, hoping that what he just said to him will give him the message to leave him alone and get lost.

“Then let's meet!” The dog stretched out a hand, and that made the boy halt, “My name is Peanut Butter, but everyone just call me Peanut. What's yours?”

Matt was starting to get nervous. It looked like an innocent game, but he was not enjoying it, and it was like some sort of onerous bad luck was not allowing him to quit it. This dog, standing there, looking at him very friendly, smiling at him so innocently and so honestly, his tail giving little wags, with his hand in air to offer him a handshake, was making his gut twist. For that, he disliked him even more now, and he really wanted to slap that hand.

Peanut kept his hand in air and waited patiently for Matt's move. But when he noticed that the boy was looking at his hand with a nasty face, it made him worried.

“Is something wrong?” Peanut asked him. He took a close look at his hand and sniffed it. “It's clean I think,” He showed it to Matt so he can check by himself. Visually.

Without saying a word, without even looking at him, Matt just pushed Peanut out of his way.

“Hey, you touched me! We're making progress!” Peanut said with joy as Matt passed him.

Matt was stomping heavily, walking with a fast pace. He wanted to leave that dog behind him as fast as possible. He couldn't believe this mutt could get so much on his nerves. He was like a little child who, just by his enormous curiosity, will squeeze all the juices out of an adult until he won't absorb everything like a sponge. And he has no time, neither mental strength to handle such situation. He was on the run, not safe here. Matt kept walking. For a moment he thought that indeed the dog decided to leave him as he heard nothing. His ears told him otherwise as he heard something squeaking. He muttered something malignant under his breath. Peanut found himself walking by his side, carrying his scooter on his shoulder.

“Say, I've never seen you around here,” Peanut said to Matt, “Where are you from?”

“Why do you even care?” Matt replied harshly.

“Because I want to know you better! And I would like to hang out with you and show you some things!”

“You don't have anyone else to hang out with?”

“No. Not really...” Peanut's ears dropped slightly, and his glance went on the ground, “My Mom and my Dad are at work. Grape was supposed to help me with writing a script for our upcoming play but Max showed up and took her somewhere and she said to not follow them. My girlfriend is preparing some mystical trance ritual and she said she must be left alone for whole week and she said she means it for real this time. Fox was not at home. Joey is still mad at me for that co-drawing on my comic and I don't want to play with his friends without him. So it was kinda dumb. I don't have anything to do at home so I thought I'll ride on my new scooter but I was getting bored fast.”

Matt's face remained stoned while he was listening to this. His gaze was glued to the sidewalk all the time. Peanut shifted his scooter so it may lay more comfortable on his shoulder.

“That's why I'm happy that we met each other,” Peanut looked back at Matt with enthusiasm, “My day became so much better. I've met someone with same eye color and my first teenager in one person. It's like you're a double combo. And you know, now that I think about it, I have so many questions I want to ask you. Like:”

“What's the difference between Rock and Metal? Beside the elements they're made of?”

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Is your hairstyle based on anime character?”

“Do you still grow?”

“I'm sure you play on guitar! Will you teach me?”

“Do you believe in Santa?”

“You sure you're not a rockstar? Heh, maybe you don't want to tell because you're running away from paparazzi?”

“Do you have a band?”

“So you're young or old? People say teenagers are young, but I'm not even five and you're much older for sure!”

“Do you practice occultism? Got some friends who do that, you will like them.”

“Do you sweat a lot? That's what makes us different, right?”

“Do you play videogames? I'm looking for sparring partner to prepare myself for upcoming tournament.”

“Is your skin real or ecological?”

“You lived through year 2000? How the end of the world looked like?”

“Why there's school reading in schools if the same books are in public library?”

“Do you know of Solarises? Grape told me they look like women, except their skin is orange and they feed themselves by using UV lamps.”

“Are you emo?... and what's an emo?”

“Is your diet full of meat?”

“So it's like you're between childhood and adulthood? Man, that must suck, though I don't know what makes those two things different.”

“What's your own smell in your opinion?”

“Are there more teenagers who look like you?”

“Do you bully weaker ones?”

“Teenagers being babysitters is a cultural thing or biological thing?”

“Why you wear a jacket when it's so hot outside?”

“Do teenagers have thumbs on their feet?”

“Marvel or DC?”

“Why humans usually don't cry when watching 'Dogs Go To Heaven'? They have their own character in it, too.”

“Do you have hair on your chest?”

“As a teenager, how much do you whine and complain on certain things on daily basis?”

Matt's face was very close to Peanut. So close that his warm breath was brushing the little dog's fur on his muzzle. What Peanut could see only is a pair eyes flashing at him ominously.

“Now listen, dog, and listen good...” Matt spoke with a low voice, “You made a very very bad mistake by bumping into me. Because, you see, I'm not a nice boy I'm a very bad boy who hates when someone bothers me. Such people like you, nice, polite, naive, and sugary friendly, I eat for breakfast. I enjoy shattering their delicate psyche, just to rub off their stupid joyful smile and watch them fall into sorrow. I feel sick each time such a guy approaches me and all I want is to cause him harm, cause it pleases me so. But you want me to tell you what I hate even more?”

Matt strengthened his grip.

“Pets. I. Hate. Pets. Remember it well. So, if you will see me again, you better get off my way, because if you ever dare to approach me with that cute attitude of yours, you will find yourself on a tall branch of a tree, hanged by your own tail tied in knot.”

Peanut was looking at Matt with widened eyes. His mouth was opened. His limbs hanging limp.

“Do you understand me?!”

“Eh??” Peanut shook his head and blinked, “Oh, sorry. I was thinking on something and I got lost deeply in my thoughts. Can you please repeat what you were saying to me?”

And, like nothing happened at all, Peanut gave Matt a cute smile.

The boy pursed his lips. His face began to gain a red color. Pulse sped up. His grip on the pup's arms got stronger. Stronger. Much stronger. It left Peanut's limbs and found himself on the boy's black hair. The boy himself just turned away, muttering some understandable things to himself.

Peanut, who found himself sitting on the sidewalk, just stood up, dusted off his bum, grabbed the scooter into his hands and followed the seemingly looking broken boy.

“You slouch funny.” Peanut broke the silence.

Matt only let out a sigh on this.

“My appearance is not scaring you?” He said with resignation.

“No, it's not. I think you look cool. Like a real bad boy. Which is cool.”

“And you're not afraid of me?”

“Course not! I like you. And I think we're gonna be good friends.”

An 'eww' flashed through Matt's mind, slowly and slimy.

Both of them keep walking straight ahead. Peanut was humming something under his nose. He clearly was in a good mood. Matt let go of his hair and kept his hands in pockets. Situation was uneasy for him. He admitted to himself that he's too interesting for this pup, despite his attempts to not be so to anyone, especially pets. His head was occupied with plotting on how to get rid of that overexcited thing without the situation being turned into paradox.

“There's so many things around here I would like to show you.” Peanut said, “Like the Pizza Pavilion , or the Great House of Ice Cream, or the newly opened candy store. Or we can go to the local park. There's lots of fields where we can play games. Do you like tug-o-war? I really like that game! Or we can--”

Peanut stopped in his tracks all of a sudden. He grabbed his head with both of his hands.

“Wait. My girlfriend is calling me.”

Matt stopped and turned around to see Peanut holding his raised head.

“Hey, Tarot! How are you? Yeah, I know there's no need to speak out loud but I can't get used to it. Listen you won't believe this! I just met my first... oh right, you already know about it. Well listen I'm taking... ...What?! Right now?! But I've just met him and I... *sigh* well, okay. But what about your thing?... ... Uh-huh?... I see. Well, okay, if you say so... … No, it's fine. I understand... I'll be there soon. Bye, love you too.”

Peanut took his hands from his head. When he lifted his head to look at Matt, his ears were lowered slightly. He looked sad.

“I'm sorry. I can't go with you,” He said apologetically, “My girlfriend said I must leave you and go to her as fast as possible. I hope you're not upset because of this.”

Peanut waited for Matt's answer, but he noticed that Matt is giving him, you know, that look.

“She can speak with me telepathically. Isn't that awesome?” he said and threw his arms in air.

*cough* *cough*... “Yeah...” Matt replied and looked away. His actual thoughts on this were totally different.

Peanut took his scooter off his arm and placed it on the ground.

“I really hope to see you around again,” Peanut lightened up, “Maybe then we will hang out somewhere. It would be great.”

'Yes, yes, now get on that stupid scooter of yours and just go away.' Matt thought to himself while he was watching Peanut.

Matt just couldn't wait till Peanut will drive away. The pup seem to be completely nutty in his head, but at least this time he got a very good idea to go bug someone else. Just when Peanut placed his foot on scooter, he forgot to hold the handle and the scooter fell with a crash. Matt had no patience for this. Not waiting for a goodbye, he just turned around and walked away. He hoped to reach the closest turn fast enough so the dog won't even notice he's already gone.

Yet he had to remember something very important. He turned around.

“Hey, kid!”

Just as Peanut stabilized his scooter again, his ears perk up when hearing Matt's words. He turned his head and wagged his tail.

“Do you know all the dogs in this place?”

“Well, I know most of them,” Peanut replied, “Why?”

“Well, there's a certain dog, maybe you know him...” Matt started to gesticulate with his hands, “He's your height,has a brown fur like yours, except it's of darker shade, has long ears that reach his neck, green eyes, green collar and looks at you in such defiant manner that you want to instantly give him a punch in the face?”

“Yeah,” Matt nodded his head. Also this helped him to recall how his tormentor is named, “Have you seen such dog somewhere around here today?”

Peanut shook his head. “No, I haven't. But you should be careful if you will meet him. He's kinda... uhh...”

“Emotionally unstable, behaves like offended lady, pesky without reason and gets instantly paranoid in a way like some synapses in his brain went suddenly haywire?”

“I'm not sure I wanted to put it that way, but yeah, that would be him,” Peanut said, “Seriously just don't try to mess with him if you don't want your day to be spoiled.”

“Thanks for the advice...” Matt said tartly. It was already way too late for that.

Peanut checked his scooter to see is everything okay this time. Being sure everything is alright he got one foot ready for pushing away and glanced back at Matt to look at him for one last time.

“It was nice meeting you, Matt!” His tail wagged happily, “See you soon and have a good day!”

And with saying that, Peanut gave a push and soon he was off on his way.

Matt observed for a while how the dog is driving away before he turned away and walked in his own direction. He was feeling relief. Encountering this Peanut guy was one of the most bizarre things that occurred to him since he moved to this neighborhood, beside the sect camping field thing in someone's yard and being buried alive in local park. Luckily, the dog was not giving him a hard time like the black cat he met earlier, but still he hoped to not to deal with him again in nearby future, or someone with similar exalted enthusiasm. Now what really mattered to him was to get to that forest before he will bump into another annoying pet, or worse, into Bino, who may be here somewhere, hunting for his head.

Yet Matt just had to stop once more and say to himself:

“Wait... how does he know my name?”

_________________I'm a bookworm!

Sat Aug 30, 2014 5:34 pm

valerio

Game Master

Joined: Mon May 25, 2009 6:53 amPosts: 18861Location: Italy

Re: Housepets: Matt

Yay! UPDATE Peanut surely does know how to properly interact with strangers when it comes to physical contact His lists of questions was awesome. Just for the fun of it, what would'veBy now Matt reminds me of Joel, but without any redeeming quality. In fact, he's evolving into...something scary... Plus, Matt-boy, since Peanut had never met a teenager before, it stands to reason that at least he knows that you are the first teenager of the family that just moved in... That, and Bino must have spread any possible information about you to warn the other pets.

Making a tumblr of Bino would be a challenging matter, yet interesting. However, as much I like this character and I enjoy writing about him, I do not own him. Only Rick Griffin owns him as he is his creator, and I must remember about that and know my place.I'll never know am I presenting Bino as he should be, as only his creator truly knows his personality. The way how I present character's behavior, his decisions, is mainly based on guesses, webcomic observation and intuition. But I like to write about his character and I try to put most of my energy to him. This way I make a tribute to this webcomic, and to this character. And I hope that I'll be able to make Rick Griffin proud of me one day.

About update... I'm afraid you must wait some time. I'm suffering. And until I won't find solution to my problem, I'm forced to write very slowly. But it will come eventually. Bino is stuck in my head and there's no way he will give me a break until I won't finish it.

Matt was walking down the street, his movement fast paced. He raised his head and looked around, but he still couldn't find those familiar hills overgrown with trees. He though the way to the forest would be short as this place seemed to be not so big, but the road ahead seemed to get longer and longer and family houses on both sides seemed to appear endlessly. And that was not cool. He already wasted time on that nutty little pup back there and as long as he's strolling around the neighborhood the bigger chances he will bump into another bothersome pest, or worse, his home tormentor.

But the stomach was a nuisance and it gurgled and whined more than before.

Matt knew why his stomach is being such a nuisance to him. It is not used to be stuffed with natural food and it still demanded anything that contained sugar, chocolate or other sweet, caloric thing. If it won't get what it wants fast in time it will not just gurgle and make upsetting sounds, but it will roar like a very bad, very hungry lion. And will feel hungry.

“Great... Now I need to find some grocery around here...” Matt moaned. “Can't get any worser, can it...”

Like not being able to get to nearby forest wasn't enough, now Matt must find a grocery store on his way to make his stomach to shut up. But where he will find here a grocery here, he wondered. Sure, he already knows there is one around here and he already knows that if he will place a step there the store clerk will kick him out with a fine hard kick after last incident.

Why this day must be so complicated? Why he just can't seclude himself in forest so world can leave him alone and vice versa? Like living in weird neighborhood where weird events take place isn't enough, but ditching school cannot go normal way as well.

He summed up his situation by numbling something under his breath. He already decided he's skipping school today and he is going to get to that blasted forest, fate wanting it or not!

Just about when he was going to make a step forward and continue his journey, Matt cough something in a corner of his eye. Intrigued, he turned his head and noticed that under the nearby oak tree that was growing near the sidewalk, something small was laying in grass.

Matt apporached the thing and bent down to take a closer look.

“What's that?” He said to himself aloud. He brough his face closer to the thing to examine it closely. It was small, oblong, in brown wrapping and there was a name of well known company on it.

“Hey, it's a chocolate bar!” He said as he realized what the thing is. “And what do you know, my favorite one.”

And as he said it, his stomach roared savagely. So hard that Matt had to hold his sides and let out a heavy moan. The stomach, like it was able to hear what his owner said, demanded this prey right now.

“Alright, alright!” Matt said with pretension, “Give me a moment!”

Matt straightened himself up and looked around himself. There was no living soul to be found nearby. Then his glance went again on the chocolate bar at his feet and he rubbed his upper lip.

Probably some pet or some kid lost it when playing around here, he thought. But who cares? The problem with food just solved on its own. This bar should be enough to satisfy his offended stomach. Now he won't have to look for grocery store and take the risk of being caught. At least for once luck smiled at him and blessed with a humble, yet beneficial gift.

“Finders keepers.” Matt summed it up shortly and grabbed the bar into his grasp.

*Snap!*

Matt did not even have a chance to wonder what was that sound when suddenly he fell flat on the ground, his face scrapped across the ground and whole world began to spin around him.

The shock was so great him that Matt was yelling uncontrollably, like he was being skinned alive, waving all his limbs. He was yelling so loud that it could even tear sky apart. But there finally had to come a time where his lungs run out of oxygen and Matt ceased his panicky screams to inhale air.

Breathing shortly, Matt opened his eyes and looked around himself nervously. Something was definitely wrong as he could see that whole world turned upside down and sky seemed to become wider. He was feeling cold sensation in place where his loins were, like they were naked and exposed to chilly blow of the wind. His eyes went up and he could see that his left foot was tied to a rope that was hanging down from tree branches.

Matt kept looking on the street below him. There was no one around, but he hoped that someone might hear him and will appear from a corner any moment now. It could be even some pet. It could even be those weird police dogs, or even their Captain Falcon on his motorcycle, just peck it would help him get down safely on the ground. He kept looking, hoping and waiting, but as time was passing by, Matt's horrified expression began to turn into grimace of discontent.

“YOU LOUSY RATS!!!” Matt yelled once again, this time with anger, “WHEN A GUY WANTS TO BE LEFT ALONE, ALL OF YOU RUN ACROSS WHOLE STREET LIKE CRAZY PLAYING YOUR STUPID GAMES AND PESTER WHOEVER WILL GET IN YOUR WAY WITH YOUR SNIFFING LICKING AND ASKING STUPID CHILDISH QUESTIONS!!! BUT WHEN YOU'RE NEEDED, YOU ALL MAGICALLY VANISH INTO YOUR HOUSES LIKE GENIES?!? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU ALL?!? BLAST YOU ALL AND THIS HORRIBLE PLACE!!!”

Matt began to kick violently and his body was swinging as anger took him over completely. The sounds of branches creaking dangerously and falling leaves made him realize that allowing himself to give into his frustration in current position is not a smart idea if he values his neck not to get broken. He clasped his fists tight and tried to calm himself down.

Since there was no one around to help him, the only option was to help himself. He tried to reach his tangled foot witgh his hand, but it was too high. He tried again, trying force his back to arch more, but his spanned hand was still not able to reach. He took three deep breaths and tried once more, forcing all muscles he had to work. He was grunting, bones were cracking, face turned red, but fingers were almost touching, almost there. Wheeze came out of his lungs and his body fell down limp.

He rubbed his face into his gloved hands, wispering his thought on this. Resignation hit him as he realized there's no way out of this. His situation was miserable. He was tied to a tree and he was completely alone, unable to do anything. He was helpless and that was really annoying to him.

He knew one thing. When he find out who played this nasty prank on him, that guy is not coming back home today.

“At least I can see the forest now.” He said to himself sarcastically.

Then he heard it. It began quietly at first, but then it got louder, and as louder as it was getting the more ominous it became. A cold chill ran down through Matt's spine. He had an odd feeling he knew to who this snicker belonged to. He almost jumped out of his socks when all of a sudden that snicker turned into a burst of sinister laugh.

“Well hello there, Sunshine! So I see you did manage to crawl out of your den after all!”

Matt froze. He recognized this sinister voice. Even blindfolded and unknown what's happening around him, he would still be able to tell who's the owner of this voice.

Bushes near the tree rustled and soon a figure of a dog appeared. Now Matt's greaters fears came true. Under the tree was standing a dog which he hoped to not see today. And it was no denying it isn't him. His beige fur, long brown ears reaching his shoulders and green collar on his neck could not be mistaken with anydog else.

It was Bino. The pesky dog who for many days now was making Matt's already disturbed life even more insufferable.

Bino leaned against the tree in relaxed manner. A sly smirk was formed under his nose and his deviously shining eyes were entirely focused on the hanging teen. His tail was swaying slowly there and there. He looked really smug, like a hunter who caught a really fine catch. He was holding a bitten apple.

“You!” Matt said to him in a spiteful manner.

“Yes! It is me!” Bino said with great confidence, waving his hands to present himself, “And as you can see, you've fallen right into my cleverly placed trap! Now you're at my mercy, punk!”

“No! Bad dog!” Matt shouted at him, waving his fists and shaking his body, “Take me down at once!”

Bino only laughed mockingly at him and took a bite of his apple.

“Are you deaf!? I told you to take me down! As your owner I demand you to obey!”

Bino spit out what he was chewing and let out a greater gale of laughter.

“Hah! Oh, really? Now you remembered?” Bino said in a mocking tone, “How about you look around yourself to see who over who holds power now. And as you can see, It is I who has the high ground. Though it sounds kinda wrong in this situation, if you know what I mean.”

“You fool! You think you can keep me like this forever? Sooner or later I will get down and then you will regret it dearly! So you better behave like a good dog and do as I say because if you won't, when I'll get my hands on you I'll give you such a spanking that you'll have nightmares of your sore butt for a very long time!”

Bino leaned away from the tree and stepped closer so Matt could have him in front. The teen thought that maybe some of his words actually got through the dog's thick skull and will get to his senses. But then Bino turned around, bent down, raised his tail and flashed his bare rump at Matt.

Matt is not a dog, obviously, but right now, if he could, with viciousness he would sink his teeth into Bino's butt. But he knew that's not possible right now and his only reaction was waving his fists and arms and yell out spiteful insults.

Bino laid down on the ground. As he made himself comfortable on the grass, he kept looking at Matt, who was squirming like a victim who was being lowered to the pool filled with sharks. His mouth was not stopping as it was producing saliva and many verbal variations of threats and insults. He kept listening to this calmly, taking a bite of his apple from time to time.

“Yeah. Scream like a baby all you want,” He said to his quirming captive, “It won't help you. No one will come to save you. It's just you and me, twerp.”

After a long while Matt calmed down and hanged still. He was breathing deeply and drops of sweat began to form on his face. He surpressed to let out a moan of bitterness. He didn't know what's worse. Being held captive by a dog who seemed to enjoy playing on his nerves and humiliating him or the fact that blood was ruching to his brain and he was seeing dancing spots. The fact that his jacket and shirt were unrolled and his loins were exposed was super embarrasing to him, too.

He kept asking himself in his thoughts, not for what sins, but which of his sins temped fate to send upon him this little pesky demon as punishment.

“Hey. Tell me, what were you actually doing here?”

Matt's glance went on Bino. Both his hands were under his head and he was looking at the boy with great interest. The scrap of apple was laying beside him.

“What do you mean?” Matt asked back.

“I asked you what were you doing here. If I remember well, the bus stop is supposed to be that way.” He took out one hand from under his head and pointed with his finger.

“So?” Matt said. Though he knew very well where Bino was leading to.

“So? Isn't it where you're supposed to be right now? You weren't thinking on skipping school, were you, naughty boy?”

Matt took a deep breath.

“Accusing me already? So what that I'm here instead of being there? Perhaps I wanted to take longer way because I had a need for a stroll? Perhaps I wanted to take a walk to breath some fresh morning air instead of sitting there and boring my brains out? Seriously, because I'm doing something out of assumed standards automatically means I have bad intentions?”

“Well, it's not like I don't believe in alternative way of doing a simple thing. Yes, I admit, taking a morning stroll before going to school is perfectly fine. But you have to admit that when you listen to explanation of a school guy who strangely appears to be without his backpack...”

Matt slowly closed his eyes. He got the picture right into his face.

“By the way, I was kind enough to bring it for you,” Bino smiled lazily. Then he slowly got up and went back into bushes. Few second later he came back and threw a black-greyish backpack on the ground. “I've read your schedule. Today you have English, History and Science. You have all necessary books inside. Don't look at me like that. I told your Mom what you need and she bough everything. See, I do think about you.” He end his sentence by sending a wink at his upset owner.

Bino layed on the ground once more, this time on his belly. He rested his head on his palms and was kicking his legs in air. He stared at Matt.

Matt sighed with resignation. He wished this prank was played by some human brat, not by this stupid dog. It would've been more bearable and less humiliating than this.

“Okay... you got me,” Matt finally gave in, “Yes, I admit, I indeed planned to skip school today. I admit it honestly. If this is why you set up trap for me and wanted to force me to confession, then you won. Yes, you won. You hear it for real. But now when you have what you wanted, can you take me down now? If you want to drag me to bus stop and send me to school then you better do it now, or I'm gonna be late for that bus and you won't achieve your goal.”

But Bino only closed his eyes, smiled and shook his head gently in dissagreement.

“You truly don't get it, do you?”

“Get what?” Matt asked with surprise.

“Nothing really comes to your mind? Nothing at all?”

“Dog, what are you talking about?” Matt said with impatience, “You're not making sense!”

“Come on, Matt. Use that brain of yours and think why are you here.”

Matt was really confused right now. He could not understand what Bino wanted from him. Now he decided to play guessing with him?

“What is your problem??” Matt spitted out, “What do you want from me? First you hang me on tree upside down! Then you pop out and torment me with your taunting! Then you interrogate me and force me to confess to my lie! And still that's not enough to you?! For crying out loud, why are you making this so complicated, can't you just tell me what kind of problem you have with me? You know what, blood is rushing to my brain and if you want to deal with me before I pass out then you better do it now!”

Bino sighed from dissapointment.

“Alright, since you clearly have problem with brain ignition, I will lend you a paw. Now focus on what I'm saying. Didn't you notice anything strange this morning?”

Matt took some breath and began to think on what Bino just said to him. He tried to remind everything that happened this morning, starting from the moment when he woke up.

“I remember... waking up in my bed with a scream because you were jumping on my belly!” Matt gave Bino a solid glare, “Then I took a long, steamy shower. Then I went to kitchen to eat breakfast, and surprisingly you weren't there to pull another stupid stunt on me. Then I had an argument with my dad and you were the main cause of it. And then I-- wait a sec...” Matt's narrowed his eyes. He began analyzing what he just said.

“Aaa? Aaa?” Bino nodded his head in anticipation.

“I went to kitchen... and you...” Matt's eyes suddenly widened from revelation that just hit him, “Oh, you little pest! You planned this from the start, didn't you?!”

“AHA!” Bino said with a big dose of excitement, smacking both his hands together strongly and jumping back on his feet, “Yes! That's exactly what you're thinking! Yes, Matt, you've been taking part in my plan from the very beginning! Can you feel it? Can you feel the realisation of your self stupidity slowly hitting you? Huh?”

And he grabbed his stomach and let out a hearty laugh out of his lungs. It was so loud that it hurt Matt in his ears. And dignity.

The boy hid his face in his hands. He felt like an incredible idiot. No one made him feel than naive in years.

“Have you really thought that I gave up on you? Never! I had my eye on you whole this time since you left home!” Bino clenched his fist tight, “I had everything under control all this time! And you, naive fool, did everything just as I have foreseen you'll do! I knew very well you'll use the opportunity of my absence to run away and I knew that the only place where you can hide in this place from everyone is the local forest! All I had to do was to leave you alone for a moment, set up a trap and wait for you here, with open arms, to fall into my embrace!”

“I don't believe you!” Matt said with despair.

“You don't?” Bino said with a mocking tone, “Then take this! I've seen you talking with Peanut!

“Impossible...”

“Oh, but it is! And what's more, not only I've seen you both together, but also heard your conversation. Every. Single. Word. Spoken.”

When saying this, Bino's eyes flashed. Matt didn't like that spark. He knew the dog is very displeased right now and something nasty is about to happen.

When Bino's face got serious, he was sure of it.

“So tell me, my beloved owner, what is my name?” He crossed his arms. “You won't tell me you don't know the name of your own dog, do you?”

Matt tried to focus. Ironically, he forgot the name again despite being reminded by Peanut not so long ago.

“Your name... your name is...”

“Come on, put that brain of yours to work!” The dog said with stiff tone, “It can't be that hard, even for you!”

Matt focused himself harder, trying to reach deep into his memories. He only knew the name is easy to spell, but he couldn't put the letters together. He had it on the tip of his tongue, but a piece was still missing.

“Dino?”

Wet apple core smacked him right in his nose bridge, splashing bits into his eyes.

“FAIL!” Bino yelled at him, “And if you dare to call me that again, I promise I will scalp your head alive!”

Hee squatted and picked something from the ground.

“Alright. We're trying this again,” He said and began to playfully throw the thing in air, “And I strongly suggest to make the right guess this time.”

From this heigh, Matt could see what the dog was throwing up while waiting impatiently for anwet. It was a pebble. And it seemed to be sharp and hard.

“Bino.”

Bino cought the pebble into his fist and smirked.

“See? You can use your brain when properly motivated,” He said with content, “However, I will question you from time to time till I will hammer it into your head for good.”

As he said that, he tossed the pebble at Matt, intentionally missing the target so it would only brush his dangling hair, just to show the boy who's the master here. In return, Matt gave him a murderous look.

“Alright... Bino... I do it grudgingly, but I must give you a credit. You pulled a wicked prank and you made me completely miserable. But as you said you planned imprisoning me like this, there must be a bigger reason than just taunting me and boosting your megalomania, is it?”

Bino placed his hands on his hips.

“Aww, come on,” He stuck out a tongue, “Where's your pride gone? I was hoping there would be more resistence in you. But yes, you're right. I have my reasons to hold you captive.”

“Well, then what is it?” Matt frowned. Drops of sweat were running down his spine uncomfortabely, “Is it about blackmail? You want to earn some toy?”

Bino shook his head, his long ears waving around like flags as he was doing so.

“That's for some other day.”

“You want to gain some information from me?”

Bino shook his head again.

“You're keeping me like this because you want to humiliate me in front of your friends? If you have any?”

Bino was about to shake his head, but he resigned and raised his finger.

“Actually... that's a pretty good idea you came up with. Guys would love to see what a cranky human I have. But no. It's not about that either.”

“Well, then what is it?!” Matt said spitefully, “Bino, my leg is getting numb so just quit playing games and get straight to the point!”

At this moment Matt's hands went up and found themselves on his neck, right into his collar. He was feeling itchy there for quite some time now, but finally the itching passed the point where Matt couldn't handle it anymore and he had to scratch it. His scratching was so hard that soon his neck gained gained a deep hue of pink, which now matched with his red face.

He was very angry on himself. He couldn't believe he was at mercy of this dog. It was incredibly humiliating to him, not being able to do anything while your enemy watches you and has his fun. But some pride remained in him and he was still not going to plead for mercy.

“Alright. I'll tell you why I brought you here.” Bino said. He sat down cross legged and gave Matt a sly smirk.

Matt stopped scratching his neck and shook his head.

“Oh, tell me. Don't leave me hanging.”

Bino nodded. He looked around himself and took a stick into his hands.

“The reason why you're here is because we need to have a serious talk.” Bino began, poking the ground with his stick.

“Oh?” Matt crossed his arms. He seemed not amused, “So I understand you hanged me on a tree only so we can have a chit-chat? You know, people usually take a sit at the table or whatever serves them comfortable, but you seem to like going full extremist mode at first go, huh?

Bino's glance went up at Matt, smirking.

“Let's say I'm very imaginative when it comes to dealing with people I find annoyingly defiant. Now be a good boy and shut your mouth, I don't like when people interfere when I'm about to say something important. Unless you like being tied there.”

“Fine. Spit out whatever you have to say. I'm not moving anywhere.” Matt said annoyed.

Bino let out a giggle and returned to his poking ground with his stick.

“You know, I've been thinking on what you said to me last night,” Bino kept poking the ground, sometimes digging the tip a bit or making circles, “And, will you care about it or not, whatever, in a way I do understand you. You had your life you were used to, your habits, and all of that took a big turn and you're not comfortable with it and you find it difficult to accept it at once. And it's actually me who appeared in your family house so that actually makes me the intruder in your life. That's fine, you have the right to feel nervous and desoriented. It was not your choice to be stuck with me, I can understand that.”

Matt kept listening to this. It was true that he did not care for Bino's feelings, but somewhere in his consciousness appeared a glimmer of hope that this dog is not as stupid as he though he is and finally realised what an unwanted balast he became when he appeared in his life with a loud stomp. Perhaps, like Matt asked him earlier, Bino will admit that it's better if he will stay away from him and let him be, living his own, doggy way life.

“But there is one problem,” Bino stopped playing with his stick. When he raised his head to look at Matt, he had a stern expression, “No one asked me do I want to be stuck with you either. No one cared to who's hands I will fall into. No one even bothered asking my opinion do I even want to trade one life for another. Everything was decided for me and now I'm forced to live in one stinking room with a whiny, ill mannered human brat! You think life treats you unfairly? Well here's news for you- you're not the one of a kind!”

Bino got up on his feet. He clenched the stick with both hands.

“I cannot change time and go back to my old life. Now I'm stuck with you, do I like it or not. But mark my words, I will fight for my survival. Don't care about me as you say so, I don't need your love or other similar lie. I was, am and will handle on my own. However, each time you will get in my way, try to mistreat me or you will try to make my life miserable...”

Bino broke the stick in half. He was smiling deviously.

“I will train you. And I will take deep pleasure in it.”

“So that's it?!” Matt bursted out, shaking his balled fists, “You officially declare a war?! Fine then! You know what, I was going easy on you so far, but since you want to play a mutineer, I won't be backing off and I will show you no mercy, as you awakened in me the demon of fray! Foolish dog, I'll show you what I'm truly capable off! I'll simply destroy you! I'll dominate you! And you will come to me on your knees crying you're gonna be obiedient dog! You think you can keep me tied to this tree forever?! You just wait when I'll get down I'm gonna--”

*Phlap*

Matt felt that something flipped out of his pocket of his pants. Looking down, he saw his wallet laying below him on the ground. When he saw Bino stir and slowly moving towards it, a sense of danger triggered in him and began to struggle to free himself at any cost, waving all limbs he had free violently.

Branches were creaking horribly, leaves rustling strongly. The rope couldn't handle violent shaking and it snapped. A loud *THWAMP* could be heard as Matt's body impacted harshly with the ground, right at Bino's feet.

“Hey, you okay?” Bino said to him. He pulled Matt by his collar to bring his face closer.

Looking deeply into his cloudy eyes, Bino could see that Matt was clearly on his way to interstellar space.

“You'll be fine.” He judged and let Matt go, allowing his head to hit the ground again.

Bino reached into his collar and pulled out a watch.

“Okay, it was fun but it's time to go. Your bus' gonna arrive soon.” He said and hid the watch back into his collar. He picked Matt's backpack from the ground and set it on his arm, then grabbed the boy's foot with his hand and walked away, dragging Matt's body along.

What makes such updates so awesome, is that it's so difficult to take a side. It's like watching 'Monster vs Demon', and sometime you wish both destroy each other, sometimes you wish they just shook and made up...Great job!

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